Gary Pollard
(Continuing modernizing translation of this work by one of the early church fathers)
The next question to explore is whether there was a world before this one. Was it like this one? Was it different? Was it worse? Or was there no world at all, but something like what we’re told will follow the end of all things, when “the kingdom will be handed over to God the Father”? Perhaps that very state was the conclusion of an earlier world—one which ended before this present one began.
We must also ask if the failings of intelligent beings compelled God to bring about this diverse and changeable world. And once this present world ends, will there be any hope of change and improvement for those who refused to obey the word of God? It would be harsh and painful, of course, but would serve as a way for them to attain a fuller understanding of the truth. Could this exist for those kinds of people so they could have their minds purified, and only then be capable of attaining divine wisdom?
After this, the final end of all things would come. Then, maybe, there would be another world, for the restoration or improvement of those who still need it—perhaps like the present one, or better, or much worse. We must also consider how long that coming world, whatever its form, would last. Would there be a time when no world will exist at all? Was there ever a time when no world existed? Have there ever been (or would there ever be) many worlds? At some point in the future, would there ever be a world identical to one that came before it?
To try to clarify some of these questions, let’s ask whether matter can continue to exist through intervals of time, or, just as it once did not exist before it was made, it may at some point return to nonexistence1. We should first consider whether it’s possible for any intelligent being to live without a body. If even one could do so, then perhaps all could exist without bodies, since our earlier argument has shown that all things move toward one common end.
But if everything could exist without a body, then there would be no purpose for matter at all. If that’s the case, how are we supposed to understand the apostle’s words about the resurrection of the dead? He said, “This body that decays will have put on one that cannot decay. Then the saying will be fulfilled, ‘Death is swallowed in victory! Where is your sting, Death? Your sting has been destroyed: sin is your sting, and sin’s power comes from the law.’”
In speaking of “this body that decays” and “this mortal,” the apostle seems to explicitly point to the very substance of the body. So, this same bodily matter, which decays, will “put on incorruption” when inhabited by the perfected soul—one with the marks of incorruptibility. We shouldn’t be surprised that the soul is called “the clothing of the body”, for it adorns and conceals its mortal nature.
[Just as Christ Himself, the Creator and Lord of the soul, is said to be the clothing of the saints, when it is written: Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.]
In this way, the soul is said to clothe the body the same way Christ clothes the soul, each according to its own kind of beauty and perfection. So, when the apostle says, “This corruptible must put on incorruption,” he speaks of the body’s transformation through the presence of a soul perfected in wisdom. And when he says, “This mortal must put on immortality,” he shows that the body, once joined to such a soul, will be immortal. Anything living is necessarily also capable of decaying; but not everything corruptible is alive. We may say that wood or stone is capable of decay, but we don’t think of them as being alive. Because life can be taken from a body, we consider it to be mortal and capable of decay.
The apostle, with remarkable insight, refers to the twofold cause of bodily transformation: first, the general cause, that matter itself—of whatever quality, coarse or refined, earthly or celestial—is the instrument through which the soul acts; and second, the specific cause, that this body of ours will one day, through divine wisdom and righteousness, receive incorruption and immortality.
[For incorruption and immortality are nothing else than the participation of the soul in God’s own wisdom, word, and righteousness, which shape and adorn it as a garment of divine beauty.]
Right now, even though we make progress and see dimly through the lens of mortality, our “corruptible” nature hasn’t yet put on incorruption, and our “mortal” hasn’t yet put on immortality. But when the long training of life has completed its purpose—when the Word of God and His Wisdom have completely filled our very being—then this corruptible nature of ours will indeed be clothed with incorruption, and this mortal with immortality.
1 This is likely a Rufinus edit. Origen uses μεταβολη to mean “transformation” in his other writings (Against Celsus IV.35-36; Commentary on Matthew XIII.31-33). His view was that matter (ύλη) was capable of change, but not annihilation.
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